{"id":42520,"date":"2014-09-08T00:40:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T04:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=42520"},"modified":"2024-02-02T00:44:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T05:44:23","slug":"motown-25-yesterday-today-forever-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/08\/motown-25-yesterday-today-forever-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Motown 25: Yesterday Today Forever (DVD)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The first time I ever saw \u201cMotown 25\u201d was in 1987 as a four year old, and I sat with my dad to watch a VHS recording of the 1983 broadcast. The memory of the time and place are fuzzy, but all I remember is watching through the tape entertained, and then being genuinely in awe of Michael Jackson\u2019s performance of \u201cBillie Jean\u201d as he declared that he was his own entertainer now. He did so with a brilliant performance and the introduction of the moon walk.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMotown 25\u201d is still a valuable bit of music history that garners some of the best performances from some of Motown\u2019s best. Time Life puts together three editions of the original broadcast, including a Six DVD Extended Edition, a Three Disc Edition, and a Single Disc Edition. Clocking in at seven hours total, the three disc is with its own unique charms, garnering the original broadcast, and two DVD\u2019s filled with features about the broadcast.<\/p>\n

Richard Pryor hosts carrying the spirit of the broadcast right through to the very end, and is accompanied by familiar Motown like Billy Dee Williams and Dick Clark, respectively. Among some of the best performances in the broadcast, there\u2019s Smokey Robinson and the Miracles doing a medley of their best songs including \u201cThe Tears of a Clown,\u201d there\u2019s a wonderful tribute by Dick Clark, and then Stevie Wonder pretty much dominates the stage with his medley of hits including \u201cMy Cherie Amour.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a raucous and funny interview with Motown song writers as they gather around a piano to talk about the old days, and then a wonderful dual performance from the Temptations and the Four Tops, as they compete to belt out their hits. Marvin Gaye performs a fantastic rendition of \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On,\u201d with an accompanying clip of he and Tammi Terrell singing \u201cAin\u2019t No Mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s of course the dazzling return of the Jackson Five performing a medley of their hits, with Jackson of course finishing off with his solo performance \u201cBillie Jean\u201d that built a sensation around The Moonwalker. The topper is Diana Ross reuniting with the Supremes, finishing off the show with a medley, and performance by the entire cast, which is still gut wrenching but amazing in its way. \u201cMotown 25\u201d is still a remarkable broadcast with mesmerizing performances.<\/p>\n

Featured on the DVD is a Motown Roundtable discussion clocking in at eighteen minutes in length, and a thirty minute making of Featurette of \u201cMotown 25.\u201d Disc Two features a twenty three minute rehearsal session with Marvin Gaye, who riffs and sings various portions of his song, preparing for the broadcast. There\u2019s also a twenty minute featurette about Marvin Gaye entitled \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On\u201d with interviews and accounts from people that knew him, and were in awe upon meeting him.<\/p>\n

Finally, there are two interviews with Motown 25 Producers Suzanne De Passe, and Don Mischer. Disc Three features Two Roundtables with the Motown 25 production team, and the remaining Motown 25 Performers, all of which clock in at ninety minutes in length and is a gem of insight and information for fans of the broadcast. \u201cReach Out I\u2019ll Be There\u201d is an eleven minute behind the scenes segment of how the production team composed the competition between the Four Tops and the Temptations.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome and Get these Memories\u201d is a fourteen minute look at the legacy of Motown and Hitsville. Finally, there are four interviews with Motown performers including Martha Reeves, Claudette Robinson, Otis Williams, and Duke Fakir. For collectors, the DVD set also comes with a full color booklet, exploring the production, and the legacy of Motown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first time I ever saw \u201cMotown 25\u201d was in 1987 as a four year old, and I sat with my dad to watch a VHS recording of the 1983 broadcast. The memory of the time and place are fuzzy, but all I remember is watching through the tape entertained, and then being genuinely in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[228,658,698,766],"class_list":["post-42520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","tag-concert","tag-michael-jackson","tag-music","tag-performance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42522,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42520\/revisions\/42522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}